All Blacks defeat England 20-15 in lucky escape at Eden Park

World champions New Zealand needed a late try from Conrad Smith to record a 20-15 victory over an understrength England at Eden Park on Saturday.

England was reduced to 14 men for most of the final 10 minutes after winger Marland Yarde's yellow card in the 68th minute for a professional foul.

The incident turned the match in New Zealand's favour with Aaron Cruden slotting his fifth penalty to give the All Blacks their first lead of the game.

Smith then scored a 78th minute try to give the All Blacks the victory that extended their winning streak at Eden Park to 32 games, and their current run of Test victories to 15 games.

England fly-half Freddie Burns kept his side in the match with four penalties before replacement Danny Cipriani added a 74th minute penalty for his side, who were without several first choice players following the English club final last weekend.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said his side clearly has some work to do before next week's second Test in Dunedin.

"We expected England to be a very good side and that's what we got," Hansen said after the match.

"I think we controlled the game in the second half but didn't put them away because of our errors."

New Zealand captain Richie McCaw said his side was half a yard off the pace in the first half.

"It took us about 40 minutes to build into it and it was a lot better in the second half even though the scoreboard was pretty close," McCaw said.

The scoring in the first half was restricted to three penalties each to Burns and Cruden as England controlled the tempo of the game and did not allow the All Blacks to set up successive phases and develop any rhythm.

The All Blacks at least tried to up their tempo at the start of the second half but England were again able to stymie their attack and slow the game down.

Their errors also continued in the second half with Israel Dagg dropping a pass with an overlap outside him, while Jerome Kaino knocked on with the tryline open after a superb kick and chase by scrum half Aaron Smith.

Both sides had the opportunity to score tries in the second half but the match ultimately turned on Yarde's yellow card after he failed to roll away following a tackle on Brodie Retallick.

While Cipriani levelled the scores, Smith's late try gave the hosts the breathing room they required, though the visitors now head to next week's second Test in Dunedin with supreme confidence with a full squad to pick from.

"We're disappointed but it's a three game series and... we're going to get better over the next few weeks," England captain Chris Robshaw said.